Posts Tagged ‘Of montreal’

OF MONTREAL – ” I Feel Safe With You, Trash “

Posted: February 19, 2021 in Classic Albums, MUSIC
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“Fingerless Gloves” sounds restless and chaotic, with Kevin Barnes cycling through three different aesthetics – warped hyperpop bounce, macho riff rock, classic fey Of Montreal synthpop – within just the first 30 seconds. It holds together through sheer force of will and a gleeful “fuck it” playfulness, and it makes you feel like you’ve been zapped into the brain of someone who thinks and feels much faster than you do. In terms of the Of Montreal catalogue it’s pretty similar to the bonkers energy of Skeletal Lamping, but there’s a different charge to it – less frazzled, more at peace with an identity full of apparent contradictions. There are songs in which ping-ponging through genres and tones is an expression of an unstable state of mind but “Fingerless Gloves” sounds more settled in a sense of identity, and like a statement of pride in being fractured and strange. I mean, check out how triumphant Barnes sounds at the climax, screaming “I Feel So Safe With You Trash!!!!” over super-charged video game thrash metal. That’s some maniac joy right there.

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Recorded at Sunlandic Studios March to November 2020

Releases March 5th, 2021

all songs written/performed/mixed by Kevin Barnes

OF MONTREAL – ” Soft Music/Juno Portraits Of The Jovian Sky “

Posted: March 12, 2018 in Classic Albums, MUSIC
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Of Montreal Kevin Barnes is back to working mostly alone but has shared their latest White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood EP in full. While that fact alone doesn’t indicate anything about the quality level of the record, it is usually an indication that Barnes will be stretching the track length and experimenting more. Both of those things are the case here. There are six songs here, all over five minutes in length, and two of them crest the eight-minute mark.

The EP includes tracks and the single “Paranoiac Intervals/Body Dysmorphia,” as well as “Plateau Phase/No Careerism No Corruption,” and serves as a follow-up to the band’s 2017 EP Rune Husk. The latest release flirts with club melodies and heavy synthesizers that embrace the dancier side of the once-whimsical indie pop project. Listen below and catch them on tour very soon.

Soft Music/Juno Portraits Of The Jovian Sky” is taken from of Montreal’s new album and their 15th album release, White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood, out 9th March.

OF MONTREAL – ” White Is Relic​/​Irrealis Mood “

Posted: March 11, 2018 in Classic Albums, MUSIC
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Two important events occurred during the making of White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood. I became “Simulated Reality” paranoid and I fell in LOVE.
Well a lot more happened during the process of writing and recording, but those are the two big ones. I also reached a healthy point of self-forgiveness for my failed marriage and became deeply educated in the lies of America the Great.
I feel like a switch was recently turned on in my brain and now I’m beginning to see through the lies that have been fed to me my whole life by the masters of media and by those who control and manipulate the narrative of our cultural identity and social order.

My paranoia began during the presidential election cycle and reached a dangerous peak shortly after the inauguration. In the meantime I watched and read countless works of art in a mad effort to be reminded of how many truly brilliant people there are living/struggling among us and to try to maintain a positive outlook. The works of Angela Davis, Noam Chomsky, Chris Kraus, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and the Autobiographies of Malcolm X and Mark E Smith were all great inspirations, to name a few.
Musically, I was very inspired by the extended dance mixes that people used to make for pop singles back in the ‘80s. It’s so cool how a lot of the 80’s hits had these really intricate and interesting longer versions that wouldn’t get played on the radio and could only be heard in the clubs. I used that template with these tracks, I wanted them all to feel like the extended “club edit” of album tracks.
I also decided to abandon the “live band in a room” approach that I had been using on the recent albums and work more on my own or remotely with collaborators. I used the same drum sample packs throughout because I wanted the album to have a rhythmic continuity to it. I wanted the drums to have a strong and consistent identity, similar to how Prince’s Linn Electronics LM-1 drum machine played such an important role on his classic albums. Zac Colwell also played a huge role on this album, adding saxophones and synths to most of the songs. I also got a lot of help from long time collaborators, and “of Montreal” touring members, Clayton Rychlik and JoJo Glidewell.

The two title concept came to me when I was thinking about how difficult it is to frame the message of a song with just one title, because so often the songs are about so many different subjects. ‘White Is Relic’ was inspired by James Baldwin’s writings regarding the creation and propagation of a toxic American White identity. I’ve come to learn how it’s just a tool wielded by the 1% to give poor white people a false sense of superiority in an effort to keep the masses placated and numb to how deeply we’re all getting fucked by our capitalist rulers. An ‘Irrealis Mood’ is a linguistic indicator that something isn’t yet reality but does have the potential to become so. 

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I’m always searching for new identities so this concept of the death of “Whiteness” appeals to me greatly. Might be the only way to save the world. Kevin Barnes, January 2018

Released March 9, 2018

OF MONTREAL – ” Paranoiac Intervals/Body Dysmorphia “

Posted: February 5, 2018 in Classic Albums, MUSIC
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of Montreal White Is RelicIrrealis Mood Pre-Order

Time to dance like nobody (or everybody) is watching. Kevin Barnes sure is! . of Montreal just released a video for their latest single “Paranoiac Intervals/Body Dysmorphia,” off their upcoming record White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood.
Directed by Jennifer Juniper Stratford, the clip features Barnes undergoing multiple costume changes as he dances and sings in an all-white room.

“Paranoiac Intervals/Body Dysmorphia” is taken from of Montreal’s new album, White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood, out 9th March

Of MONTREAL – ” White Is Relic ​/ ​Irrealis Mood “

Posted: January 18, 2018 in Classic Albums, MUSIC
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Two important events occurred during the making of White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood. I became “Simulated Reality” paranoid and I fell in Love. Well a lot more happened during the process of writing and recording, but those are the two big ones. I also reached a healthy point of self-forgiveness for my failed marriage and became deeply educated in the lies of America the Great.

I feel like a switch was recently turned on in my brain and now I’m beginning to see through the lies that have been fed to me my whole life by the masters of media and by those who control and manipulate the narrative of our cultural identity and social order.

My paranoia began during the presidential election cycle and reached a dangerous peak shortly after the inauguration. In the meantime I watched and read countless works of art in a mad effort to be reminded of how many truly brilliant people there are living/struggling among us and to try to maintain a positive outlook. The works of Angela Davis, Noam Chomsky, Chris Kraus, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and the Autobiographies of Malcolm X and Mark E Smith were all great inspirations, to name a few.

Musically, I was very inspired by the extended dance mixes that people used to make for pop singles back in the ‘80s. It’s so cool how a lot of the 80’s hits had these really intricate and interesting longer versions that wouldn’t get played on the radio and could only be heard in the clubs. I used that template with these tracks, I wanted them all to feel like the extended “club edit” of album tracks.

I also decided to abandon the “live band in a room” approach that I had been using on the recent albums and work more on my own or remotely with collaborators. I used the same drum sample packs throughout because I wanted the album to have a rhythmic continuity to it. I wanted the drums to have a strong and consistent identity, similar to how Prince’s Linn Electronics LM-1 drum machine played such an important role on his classic albums. Zac Colwell also played a huge role on this album, adding saxophones and synths to most of the songs. I also got a lot of help from long time collaborators, and “of Montreal” touring members, Clayton Rychlik and JoJo Glidewell.

The two title concept came to me when I was thinking about how difficult it is to frame the message of a song with just one title, because so often the songs are about so many different subjects. ‘White Is Relic’ was inspired by James Baldwin’s writings regarding the creation and propagation of a toxic American White identity. I’ve come to learn how it’s just a tool wielded by the 1% to give poor white people a false sense of superiority in an effort to keep the masses placated and numb to how deeply we’re all getting fucked by our capitalist rulers. An ‘Irrealis Mood’ is a linguistic indicator that something isn’t yet reality but does have the potential to become so.

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I’m always searching for new identities so this concept of the death of “Whiteness” appeals to me greatly. Might be the only way to save the world.

–Kevin Barnes, January 2018

OF MONTREAL – ” Rune Husk “

Posted: January 15, 2017 in Classic Albums, MUSIC
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Hailing from Athens, GA., of Montreal have carved their own niche — establishing themselves as a band that thrills fans with compelling live performances, delights critics with their constant innovations, and continually showcases their musical evolution by drawing from a different set of influences for each album.

Primary songwriter Kevin Barnes pours emotion — heartbreak, frustration, elation, whimsy — into lyrics that shift from adopted personas to invented alter egos to unobstructed views directly into his psyche.

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OF MONTREAL – ” Its Different For Girls “

Posted: December 18, 2016 in Classic Albums, MUSIC
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Of Montreal’s  new record, Innocence Reaches, released in August , leader Kevin Barnes continues his pattern of “artistic flirtatiousness” as they go from funk (“My Fair Lady”) to garage rock (“Les Chants De Maldoror”) to glam (“Chaos Arpeggiating”). At the same time, they praise Barnes’ “knack for supple, indelible melody, as well as his love of pomp, melodrama and lavish flourishes of texture and verse.”

That eclecticism has long been a part of their appeal, and Barnes admitted in a press release that he was drawing from opposite ends of the pop spectrum this time around. “Forever I’ve been detached from current music. I got into this bubble of only being in some other time period. I came up picking apart bands like the Beach Boys, the Beatles, and symphonic pieces. But last year, I was hearing Jack Ü, Chairlift, Arca, and others, thinking about low end and sound collage. It was an extra layer to geek out on.”

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Innocence Reaches is Of Montreal’s 14th studio album.

‘Innocence Reaches’ Track Listing

1. “Let’s Relate”
2. “It’s Different for Girls”
3. “Gratuitous Abysses”
4. “My Fair Lady”
5. “Les Chants De Maldoror”
6. “A Sport and a Pastime”
7. “Ambassador Bridge”
8. “Def Pacts (end declk)”
9. “Chaos Arpeggiating”
10. “Nursing Slopes”
11. “Trashed Exes”
12. “Chap Pilot”

 

THIS WEEKS ESSENTIAL NEW RELEASES – 8th July 2016

Posted: July 8, 2016 in MUSIC
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THE JULIE RUIN – HIT RESET
Julie Ruin return with ‘Hit Reset’ which expands on the band’s established sound: dancier in spots and moodier in others, with girl group backing vocals and even a touching ballad closer. ‘Hit Reset’ is the sound of a band who have found their sweet spot. Kathleen Hanna’s vocals are empowered and her lyrics are as pointed and poignant as ever. From the chilling first lines of ‘Hit Reset’ (“Deer hooves hanging on the wall, shell casings in the closet hall”) to the touching lines of ‘Calverton’ “(“Without you I might be numb, hiding in my apartment from everyone / Without you I’d take the fifth, or be on my death bed still full of wishes”), Hanna takes a leap into the personal not seen completely on the first album or possibly even in the rest of her work.
LP+ – Limited Rough trade Exclusive – 500 Copies on Neon Pink Vinyl with Download.
LP – Black vinyl with Download.
LP/MP3 – Limited Indie Shops vinyl – white vinyl with Download

The Rave-Ups, Town + Country [Expanded Edition]

Omnivore offers a 30th anniversary expanded edition of The Rave-Ups’ Town + Country.  The band may be best known for its appearance in the film Pretty in Pink, but this reissue proves there’s plenty more to the group.  The reissue of this lost Americana classic produced by Stephen Barncard (Grateful Dead’s American Beauty) features the original 10 songs, plus 11 previously unissued bonus tracks-including live radio performances recorded for Deirdre O’Donoghue’s KCRW-FM program Snap and material produced by Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) and longtime Beach Boys associate Mark Linett.  The Rave-Ups’ Jimmy Podrasky supplies the new liner notes!

OF MONTREAL  – INNOCENCE REACHES
The project’s 14th LP follows two full decades of mercurial creative mania: swallowing up ’60s psych-pop, Prince-ly funk, and glammy prog in turn; morphing freely between full-band affair and cloistered confessional booth; comprising lyrics both painfully personal and absurdly fantastical; and recently drawing site-specific inspiration from culture capitals like San Francisco or New York City. The thread that runs through it all is Athens, GA’s Kevin Barnes, and ‘Innocence Reaches’ finds him at his most light-hearted in years, working a Parisian stint, Top 40 sounds, and his newfound single status into the kaleidoscopic swirl. ‘Innocence Reaches’ features darker moments to be sure – isolation, anger, indifference, and the feeling that, like a Truffaut film, madness lurks just outside the frame.
LP – 180-Gram Light Blue vinyl with download code. Packaged in deluxe gatefold jacket with 18×24 David Barnes-designed poster.
Tape – Limited Lime Green Cassette.

GREGORY ALAN ISAKOV – GREGORY ALAN ISAKOV WITH THE COLORADO SYMPHONY
Gregory Alan Isakov with the Colorado Symphony marks a milestone for the Colorado-based singer-songwriter, re-imagining songs from his previous three studio albums– The Weatherman, This Empty Northern Hemisphere, and That Sea, the Gambler –along with the debut studio recording of “Liars,” a fan favorite and staple of his live shows for many years. With orchestral arrangements by Tom Hagerman (DeVotchKa) and Jay Clifford (Jump, Little Children) and with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra’s Scott O’Neil conducting nearly 70 classical musicians, the songs are cast in new and revelatory hues.

CLINIC / SEX SWING
TAPE FOR JASE / NIGHT TIME WORKER
Very limited split 7″ repress on sexy Brown Vinyl from Liverpool’s legendary psych overlords Clinic backed with blood-pumping shadowy noise from London’s Sex Swing featuring Mugstar, Part Chimp, Earth, Dethscalator and Dead Neanderthals members. Released on God Unknown Records and beautifully packaged.

JOANNA GRUESOME
PRETTY FUCKING SICK (OF IT ALL)
Blue Coloured Vinyl 7″ (Limited to 300). Joanna Gruesome release their first material since the departure of vocalist Alanna McArdle on this limited edition coloured vinyl 7″ on the Fortuna Pop! Jukebox 45s singles club. Following a chance meeting in an occult bookshop, the band’s new line up features two amazing and inspiring women, Kate Stonestreet (formerly of queer punks Pennycress) on melodic vocals / shouting / screaming and Roxy Brennan (of Two White Cranes and Grubs) on melodic vocals / keyboard, joining Owen Williams (guitar / vocals), George Nicholls (guitar), Max Warren (bass) and Dave Sandford (drums). The record features original artwork from Bart De Baets. Recorded by producer Rory Atwell on a boat in London, a statement from the band on ‘Pretty Fucking Sick (Of It All)’ reads, “This song is about being pursued by intelligence operatives and is partly set in the Welsh village of Llangrannog. It is influenced by our recent U.S tour, during which the CIA took a special interest in the group’s movements.” On Occult Bookshop the band says, “This is an origin story, detailing the first meeting of the group. It is also about using astrological means to strengthen, receive and administer crushes. Another reading suggests that the song is about attempting to destroy binary conceptions of gender through ritual hexing.”

Image of Martha - Blisters In The Pit Of My Heart

Martha –  ‘Blisters In The Pit Of My Heart’

Martha return with their second album. Produced again by MJ from Hookworms, the album explores the difficulties in staying political, staying passionate and staying punk over the course of eleven expertly crafted pop songs. Hailing from Pity Me near Durham, Martha play energetic, impassioned power pop with intricate vocal interplay and lush four-part harmonies, informed by 90s indie rock and contemporary garage punk. The band is comprised of J. Cairns (guitar), Daniel Ellis (guitar), Naomi Griffin (bass), and Nathan Stephens Griffin (drums). All four members sing and write the songs. Daniel and Nathan also play in Onsind, while Naomi also plays in No Ditching.

Their debut album “Courting Strong” came out in 2014 and was included in the top 50 albums of that year, winning them the epithet “One of Britain’s best rock bands”. If the band’s first album, ‘Courting Strong’, was about punks growing up, then ‘Blisters In The Pit Of My Heart’ is about grown-ups staying punk. It’s an album about trying to stay creative and passionate and making the most of everything in spite of the many obstacles that get in the way. It’s about finding strength and solace in friendships, love, and taking motivation from the people in your life who really inspire you. Taking inspiration from such likely and unlikely sources as The Replacements, Heart, Billy Bragg, Thin Lizzy, Cheap Trick, The Go-Gos and Radiator Hospital, the album bursts into life with “Christine”, “a love song filtered through the messiness of anxiety and night terror” that takes inspiration from “Threads”, the British TV drama of the 1980s about nuclear war, and is followed by the rousing “Chekhov’s Hangnail”, with backing vocals from Ellis Jones of Trust Fund. The catchy “Precarious (The Supermarket Song)” finds romance in the washing powder aisle, while “Goldman’s Detective Agency” shows the band’s playful side as they re-imagine 19th century anarchist Emma Goldman as a private eye vanquishing corrupt cops and politicians.

Nearly every song here is a potential single, from the infectious “Do Whatever” and “11:45, Legless In Brandon” to outsider anthem “The Awkward Ones” and the Billy Bragg / Coronation Street-referencing “Curly and Raquel”. The album concludes with “St Paul’s (Westerberg Comprehensive)”, a song about being caught up in the toxic culture of a Catholic comprehensive school. “It’s for the kids who had the guts to be queer at school and for those who didn’t figure themselves out until they got out of school.

OF MONTREAL – ” It’s Different For Girls

Posted: June 30, 2016 in MUSIC
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Official music video for Of Montreal’s “It’s Different For Girls,” taken from their 2016 album Innocence Reaches.

of Montreal have revealed the visuals for album track ‘It’s Different For Girls’, the lead
single from their upcoming new album, ‘Innocence Reaches’, released on August 12 via Polyvinyl. The album is the follow-up to 2015’s ‘Aureate Gloom’ and ‘Snare Lustrous Doomings’.

The track shows the alt-rockers at their funk best, with a groovy, bass-heavy dance-friendly vibe.

OF MONTREAL – “Empyrean Abbatoir” and ” Bassem Sabry “

Posted: January 8, 2015 in MUSIC
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A year and change after releasing “Lousy With Sylvianbriar”, the Athens glam crew Of Montreal return in a couple of months with their new LP Aureate Gloom. According to frontman Kevin Barnes, the album is both inspired by the “mid to late ’70s music scene in New York” and by his own recent divorce. The band already shared first single “Bassem Sabry,” and now they’re letting us hear “Empyrean Abattoir,” which moves from ADD psychedelic jangle to bratty glam-punk so quickly and effortlessly that you almost don’t register it happening.

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